Here is a simple, Jain-dharmic summary of the main differences:
- Clothing and renunciation
- Digambara: Monks are traditionally sky-clad (wear no clothes). This is viewed as a symbol of total non-attachment.
- Śvetāmbara: Monks and nuns wear white clothes (white-clad).
- Monastic gender and lineage
- Digambara: Historically emphasize male monastic orders; there is a strong tradition about women not attaining the same renunciant status in all underpinnings of their line. (In practice, Digambara communities often hold that women must be born as men to attain moksha in their doctrinal framework.)
- Śvetāmbara: Allow both monks (sadhus) and nuns (sadhvis). Women can renounce and pursue the path of liberation within their tradition.
- Scriptures and canonical order
- Digambara: Accept a different set of canonical texts and have their own interpretations of the Jain Agamas. They generally hold that their own tradition preserves the true words of Mahavira as carried by the Digambara tradition.
- Śvetāmbara: Use a different collection of scriptures (often called the Agamas in their tradition) and place emphasis on those texts as preserved in their lineage.
- Iconography and temple practice
- Digambara: Tirthankaras are often depicted without hair and without certain movable ornaments; some iconographic details emphasize renunciation and austere practice.
- Śvetāmbara: Tirthankaras are often depicted with detailed, ornate imagery, including hair (jatamukuta) in many forms; temples commonly emphasize a broader ceremonial style.
- Beliefs about the path to liberation
- Both share the core Jain commitment to non-violence (ahimsa), truth (satya), non-possessiveness (aparigraha), and the goal of kevala jnana (omniscience) leading to moksha.
- The differences mostly concern disciplinary practices, monastic rules, sources of doctrinal authority, and the role of women within renunciation.
- Both traditions revere the 24 Tirthankaras, follow the goal of liberation, and practice similar ethical codes (non-violence, truth, celibacy, non-stealing, non-possessiveness).
- Both honor the same core Jain cosmology and philosophy, just with different institutional histories and textual lineages.
If you’d like, I can point you to specific Jain scriptures or stotras that discuss these differences in more detail, within the Jain Dharma framework.